I honestly feel like I sometimes write down the COVID chronicles of the people around us just so that I can go back and look at them for my own sanity later when they tell me everything is fine. This person probably deserves their own thread, along side my wife's boss' ongoing health problems.

Last year I wrote this about a teacher my wife and I know:

"My wife's friend, also a teacher, has had an almost identical experience. Without belaboring the point, she is sick all of the time. Sadly, her little kid, now 2, has spent half of her life constantly sick. Just last week she was telling my wife that all she wanted was for them to be healthy for 2 weeks. Just 2 weeks and maybe they could have a good Christmas. They haven't managed 2 weeks once this semester. So what happened? This morning she was practically sobbing to my wife that they're sick, again, and she's far too sick to make it in to teach today."

I followed up with this 4 days ago:

"A year later I can tell you it's no different. They're in and out of the pediatrician's office constantly, just now with some ER and Urgent Care visits mixed in. The kid's been diagnosed with every viral illness you can think of, multiple times each."

To be clear, while she acknowledged COVID years ago, she's a constant it's-not-COVID-person since 2021 and they absolutely have been diagnosed with everything else. Such as strep throat, RSV, hand, foot and mouth disease, etc. in that time. I've begun to believe that their family doctor probably doesn't believe in COVID as he never gives them that diagnosis, at least that they've shared.

When she was still complaining to my wife about how sick she was this morning, it's been at least 9 days now, my wife brought up COVID, again, and was met with "Oh no, it's not that." My wife really pushed it, and much to my surprise she took a COVID test. I honestly think she did it just to "prove" to my wife that it wasn't COVID so she'd stop bringing it up.

Guess what? It's COVID. She was "beyond shocked" when the test "instantly" showed positive. She's truly mind-blown as she tried to wrap her head around what was probably her sincere believe of "it's over" and "I have a positive test in my hand" simultaneously.

For what it's worth it's "so much worse than any of the three times [she] had it years ago."